Spring is getting here :-)

Yesterday I picked up my first load of mulch, along with some mushroom compost and potting soil.

I put the bags of mulch in an area that was the remains of a raised bed that I raked out but never got mulched last fall. It's going to be nice weather the rest of this week, so I'll open and spread them soon. The potting soil is for potting up the annuals I'm growing from seed. I've started some early, so they'll be farther along when they go in the ground, but I'll need to pot them up once before that.

Our soil temps are still pretty low, and not much is even poking up yet. That is likely because of the second blast of polar air we had in February, but it is going to be warmer than average this week so perhaps spring bulbs will start showing tips soon. 

My white hellebore had opening buds in December, but they were killed by the cold temps in January and February. I cut back the old foliage and dead flower buds today, but I don't know if it'll put out any new buds. The pink hellebore has something coming up, but I don't know if it'll be flowers or just leaves (like last year). 

Seedlings of four different salvias and pentas are coming along. This week I'm going to seed zinnias and sunflowers.

 

Returning Light

When I woke up this morning at 7 am, it was completely light out! Such a relief! And hopefully this past week is the last polar lobe we'll have to go through.

The world is in a dark time, but there are still joyful parts, and maybe it's more important now than ever to embrace them.

I've started some seeds: salvia and pentas. The red Summer Jewels sprang right up and already have a set of true leaves. The various blue salvias are proving to be very slow germinaters in comparison, but there are some coming up. 

Pentas are so funny --I have never in my life seen a tinier seedling. They are just microscopic for quite a while. I'm actually leaving them on the heating pad to see if they will grow a bit faster in warm soil. Last year they had hardly any growth by the time I had to get them in the garden.

I've started all of these a bit earlier than in past years, and I'm hoping to pinch and pot up at least the salvias in order to get blooms sooner. Last year's blue salvia didn't start blooming until September. 

I have zinnias, sunflowers, and tomatoes to start in March. Last spring the chipmunks ate all the sunflowers I seeded outside, so this year I'm starting them inside, and then caging them outside until the critters find them unappealing. 

Rob is slowly regaining some strength, and his PSA is holding steady at under one. For now, the hormone treatment is doing its job, and we go in to check numbers every three months.